Door mechanism for railway cars



g B. w. KADEL DOOR MECHANISM FOR RAILWAY CARS Filed Jan. 23, 1925 Patented Aug. 2, 1927.

. ArsNr-or BYERS w. KAZDELYOFL BALTiMORE, MARYLAND."

FICE.

noon MECHANISM FOR R ILWAY ECAYRS'J Application filed January My invention relates to door mechanism for railway cars, and has as one of its prin-' cipal objects to provide improved means for closing and supporting the car doors. A

more specific object of the invention is to provide an improved arrangement of door latching members whereby the door may be automatically supported in an approximate ly closed position and thereafter forced to fully closed position and locked. Another object is to provide a door supporting mechanism involving a movable door supporting member carried by the car body and adapted to engage a cooperating door supporting member movably mounted upon the door.

With these general and other more specific objects in view, the invention consists of the construction, combination and arrangement of parts herein disclosed and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings which show a preferred form of the iuvention,-;

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the hopper portion of a railway car of the well known twin hopper type, showin a mechanism embodying the invention b applied thereto. 1

Figure 2 is a view similar to Fig. .1, but illustrating the door as supported in partly closed position instead of in fully closed position.

Figure 3' is a horizontal: sectional view of the mechanism taken substantially on the line 3-3; Fig. 1. Y In the drawings, the side of the car orthe meral 1 The door 2 controllingthe discharge opening of the hopper may be hinged along its upper edge to the car body many I usual or convenient manner. such hinge con- 401 nections being well known'to those familiar with the art of car construction. The car side 1 is preferably flanged outwardly alongthe side of the hopper discharge opening to" form a seat 3 for the-door and to provide a erably flangecbasat; 5, not only to-stifl'en the edge of the door but to afford an outstanding marginah flange cooperatingwith' the flange 4' of the car body to constitute sealing means preventingthe loss of lading.

' Rigidly secured to the outer face of the door, as by means of rivets 6, is atransverse- 1y extending door stiffening member 7 which may alsowserv-e'as a door connector or 'door llwspreader in case thedoor is made ins two parts for cooperating with hopper discharge sealing flange 4. The door plateis also pref- 23, 1925. Serial No. 4,193.

openingson opposite sides of the. car center sill construction. 3 1

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, which is deemed tozbepreferable, the stiffening member 7 is in the form of ,a channel iron whose web extends outwardly and one of whose-flanges abutsagainst the door plate. The channel is notched at its outer end, as at 8, so as to clear the sealing flanges 4 and 5, the end portion of said channel thus being enabledwto project outwardly somewhat beyond the side ofthe car and the said sealing flanges when the door is in closed position. It is advantageous to dispose the channel iron 7 so that its flanges are turned downward, as the. back. of the channel is thus most conveniently positioned i for the attachment of-a movable door supporting member.

Pivotal-1y mounted onthe outer' face of car si'de l. is a movable door supporting member adaptedto engage the outer end of the stiffening member .7 to support'the door-in partly closed position. The door supportingmember carried by the car body is preferably in the form of a hook or latch 9 pivotallymounted upon a bracket 10 located back of the shoulder or seat?) at the discharge end of the hopper, the saidbracket preferably beingso constructed'astocause the latch-9 to be positioned just outwardly of the .sealing flanged and to.-swing in a plane parallel.

with the car side- A rivet 11 with a washer 12 may employed to attachthebracket. v10 hopper end sheet is indicated by-thenuto the ,car, andialso to;secure,tl 1e latchin as- :sembled relation to, the; pivot bracket- In order to maintain the latchl 9within itsnorz is-preferably formed as asuitably offsetlbar which is attachedto the flange 4. of the car side sheet by means of rivets 1 L. Sidewise movement of the latch 9 is thus prevented, as itwill be restrained between the flange 4 and the said guidelii. I s v 1 Car doors of the character herein disclosed may readily be swung by hand to a position in which they are nearly closed ;.but because of warping and deformation due .to the rough usage to which railway cars are subjected in service, very much greater force must be applied to the doors to completely close them. The present inventionv is designed to facilitate the closing of'car doors by providing efficientmeans for forcing the door to closed position after it has been manually swung nearly shut. To enable the'pivoted latch 9 to temporarily support the door at the end of its preliminary closing movement, said latch is provi.dedwith an inclined. approach portion 15 which contacts with a portion of the door as the latter moves toward closed position, thus causing the said or cam 17 which is pivotally attached to the web of said channel member 7 by means of a pivot rivet 18 and washers 19. The rivet 18 is so positioned with respect to the direction of the rivet 11 upon which the hook 9 is pivotally mounted that the cam 17 and the said hook preferably swing in planes at substantially a right angle to each other. Before swinging the door to partly closed position by hand, the cam 17 should be rotated to a position enabling the point 16 of the latch 9 carried by the car body to drop clear of the periphery of the cam. When the latch 9 has assumed a position, as shown in Fig.

[2, in which it serves to support the door in partly closed position, rotation of the cam 17 in the proper direction causes its eccentric periphery to engage the ledge of the latch at 20 somewhat above its lower end 16. Continued rotation of the cam 17 causes it to wedge against the door supporting hook 9 so as to forcethe door inwardly toward the car body to completely closed position. The portion 20 of the ledge of the .latch 9 prefferably is a greater distance from the pivot pointof saidlatch than is the lowermost 1 portion 16 of the ledge, thus causing the portion 20 to be undercut with respect to the pre-. liminary latching point 316 of the hook] Whenthecam 17 has been forcibly rotated while in engagement with the portion 20 of the hook 9 so as to force the door to completely closed position, the offset portion16 of the ledge assumes a position beneath the cam 17 and thelatter thus operates to prevent the latch 9 from swinging upwardly and releasing the door. The cam 17 accord ingly serves not only as a means for forcing the door shut but also as a means for locking the hook 9 against accidental release from its doorsupporting position when the door is finally'closed. It also is to be noted that the "hook 9 and cam 17 constitute cooperating door supporting members for sustaining the load upon the door which are movably mounted upon the car body. and door respectively. It will be observed also that the cam 17 in effect formsa movable or adjustable support for the seat carried by the door for engagement with the hook 9.

The cam 17 may be provided with a socket 21 into which-a removable bar 22 may be inserted for forcibly rotating the cam. When it is desired torelease the door. theg'camis rotated until the portion 16 of the pivoted hook 9 is able to be swung upwardly out of engagementwith the .peri il cry of the cam.

While I have described a perferredembodiment of my invention other embodiments thereof are contemplated within the scope of the appended claims. a

I claim 1. A car'body having a'door adaptedyto be supported in diil erent'lpositions of closure, a latch pivotally mounted onthe car body adapted to engage arelatively immov able portion of the door to maintain thelatter in partly closed position, and means car- 1;;

ried by the door movable into andout of engagement with the latch tosupport the door in fully closed and partly closed position respectively.

2. A railway car having a dooiyapivoted 1;:

latch carried by the car body adapted to engage a relatively immovable portion of the door to maintain the latter in partly closed position, and a pivoted cam carried. by the door and adapted to engage said latch, said:

cam being adapted to bemoved so as to force the door shut.

. 3. A railwaycar having a door,'a stiifeningmember for the door. apivotedlatch engage said door stiffening member,- and movable means carried by the doorstiffening member and adapted to be interposed be tween said door and latch, said means being adapted to be moved so as to "effect a 'clos-" ing movement of said door and being i'adapted to lock said latch sition. 1

- 4. A railway car having a door, a stiffen in door supporting pomounted upon the car body and adapted rto ing member for the door. a pivoted latch mounted upon the side of the car and adapt ed to engage the door stiffening member to support the latter in partly closed position, and rotatable means interposed between said latch and the door whereby. the door maybe i forced toward closed position.

5. A railway car having a door, a door supporting latch pivoted uponthe side of the car and adaptedto swing into supporting engagement with the door and means on the door forming a seatfor said latch, said means involving a-member movable-with respect to the door and adapted when in engagement with said latch 'tomove in a plane substantially at rightangles to the plane? of operation of saidlatch.

6. A railway ear having a door, a door supporting latch pivoted upon the side of the car and adapted to swing into supporting engagement with the door, and means carried by said door forming a seat for said latch, said means involving a member movable with respect to the door and adapted when in engagement with said latch to move in a plane forming an angle with the plane of operation of said latch 7. A railway car having a door, a stiffening member carried thereby, a latch pivotally mounted on the'car body, and means pivotally mounted on one end of the stiffening member adapted to engage the latch to support the door in closed position, the pivotal axis of said means extending at an angle to the pivotal axis of the latch.

8. A railway car having a door, a pivoted latch mounted on the car body, pivoted means carried by the door adapted to engage the latch to support the door in closed po sition, the pivotal axis of said means forming an angle with the pivotal axis of the latch, and means on the latch to prevent dis: engagement of the latter from the said pivotedmea-ns when the door is in fully closed position.

9. A railway car having a door, a latch pivotally mounted on the car body, and rotatable means carried by the door cooperating with the latch to support the door in closed position, the axis of rotation of said means being substantially parallel to the plane of operation of the latch, said means being adapted to be rotated intoengagement with the latch to lock the same in door supporting position and also being adapted to be-rotated out of engagement with the latch to permit the latch to be swung into door releasing position.

10. A car body having a door, a latch pivable cam carried by the door adapted to engage the latch to support the door in closed position, said cam having a portion fashioned to receive a removable bar for rotating the cam, the bar being adapted when in operable engagement with the cam to extend in a direction substantially transverse of the car.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

BYERS W. KADEL. 

